A treat! The sax is the stream of consciousness in what I imagine to be a dystopian future detached from nature. The percussions are like the interruptions from our senses. A delightful avantgarde cinematic journey that shows how far we've come since Peter and the Wolf. Perhaps too far?

What can I say?! Love the atmosphere, the conversation between the instruments, the playfulness…the contrasts…

Great composition, where abstract objects fill the scene in this fabulous classical. Love it.

Interesting world painted here. I find this work refreshing, using real acoustic instruments; one tieds of endless synthesizes after a while.

Written: 1989
Duration: 15'
Instrumentation: alto sax (doubling Bar Chimes [Mark Tree] in Perc. 1 setup) and three percussionists (Percussion 1: 4 1/3 octave marimba, bar chimes (Mark Tree), log drum [A5], two brake drums [G5, A5], small Almglocken cowbell [G5], small Rosewood claves [E5], two computer floppy diskettes / Percussion 2: 4-octave bass marimba, two Goblet drums [Darbuka] [A4, C5], log drum [E5], two brake drums [E5, F5], medium Almglocken cowbell [E5], claves, two computer floppy diskettes / Percussion 3: concert bass drum, crotales [high octave], log drum, typing paper, brake drums [C5, D5], bell tree, cowbell, large African claves,  two computer floppy diskettes)
Premiere: Student Recital, Richard Wyman, saxophone, with David Carlisle, Robert Paterson, and Joseph Tompkins, percussion; Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY, April 15, 1989.
Publisher: Robert Paterson Music (ASCAP)
 
This work is currently unavailable.

PROGRAM NOTE
Machines are slowly overtaking mankind; they are beginning to possess a life of their own. Androids, humanoids, computers, four-wheel vehicles, and other machines are weaving their way into our lives in both obvious and subtle ways. People in developed societies depend on them for their lives. As hypothesized in many science fiction books and films, our massive expansion of technology will eventually create machines with free will: they will be able to think and feel and will have the power to ultimately destroy us. If too many are given the power of reasoning, they may decide that we need to be terminated; we are creatures with many flaws.

Humanus Ex Machina is a work about the hypothesized, eventual downfall and deterioration of humankind resulting from being overthrown by machines. The three percussionists represent the machines and play traditional percussion instruments and “found objects” such as computer floppy disks and brake drums. Humankind, represented by an alto saxophonist, senses that mankind is about to be wiped out by its creations and triumphs over them with the greatest weapon of all, the human mind.

Humanus Ex Machina

American composer Robert Paterson is a true New Yorker—born and bred in Buffalo, he lived in Rochester and Ithaca for over ten years, in New York City for over twenty years, and now lives in Saratoga Springs, near the Adirondacks. Paterson’s colorful music embraces a wide variety of themes, everything from goddesses and online dating to mathematics and the environment. His music is filled with emotion and fierce rhythmic energy, marked by elegance, wit, and meticulous craftsmanship. Named Composer of The Year by the Classical Recording Foundation at Carnegie Hall, Paterson is the winner of the Alfred I. DuPont Award, and his opera Three Way won the Grammy® under Best Classical Producer of the Year. His music is often a Best of the Year pick on National Public Radio. His orchestral tone poem, Dark Mountains, regularly airs on NPR’s Performance Today. Three Way premiered with Nashville Opera, then BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), and across the United States. Minnesota Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, The Oratorio Society of New York, Buffalo Philharmonic, Albany Pro Musica, Albany Symphony, Musica Sacra, Austin Symphony, Vermont Symphony, and ensembles worldwide perform his works. Paterson gives masterclasses at the Curtis Institute of Music, New York University, the Aspen Music Festival, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and more. He is the Artistic Director and house composer for Mostly Modern Projects. Robert is a lifelong vegan and advocates for animals and the environment, celebrating the natural world with ground-breaking works such as his Triple Concerto, A New Eaarth, Listen, and I Go Among Trees.

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